Third Gear Scratch

WARNING! All ye who put your ears toward this episode should know that it is the final installment of Third Gear Scratch, which appropriately features one of my closest friends and bandmates, Mr Chris Metcalf of our band, The Life and Times. But before that Chris had done much wood-shedding with crazy great bands like Stella Link , SImple Lines and Lafayette. The latter one here Lafayette has in fact reformed since Chris has returned to KC after an almost 10 year run in Chicago, and has recently made a new record with Paul Malinowski, Shiner bassist that is due for release. We recount our time together in TLAT through 5 records and 3 more EPs and so many live shows and tours with bands like Russian Circles, Mono, Pelican, Murder By Death, Appleseed Cast, Sparta, Nueva Vulcano, Magnetic Morning and so many more. It's a fantastic way to close out this podcast that I've been so greatful to host and get to meet so many hugely talented artists who've inspired me and Chris is among the most inspiring. There's new Life and Times in the pipeline, so pour one out for Third Gear Scratch podcast but don't weep for me or us. We'll continue to make music as long as our bodies will let us. Thank you all so much for the support and for your ears and for all my amazing guests. ONWARD and Keep on making stuff. All the love! 

Blake Smith and his rock band Figdish from the 90's Chicago scene has never taken things too seriously; never been careerists, and in fact went out of their way to indulge in hijinx and sabotage, despite ending up with 2 hugely influential records and a solid major label record deal. This was the band that came of age with Varuca Salt, Local H and Smoking Popes with comparisons to Replacements and Husker Du that intentionally played a set of Neil Diamond covers at a label showcase in front of A&R from all the biggies. The same band that threw a sandwich off their hotel balcony and covered Marilyn Manson and his crew in hoagie. Blake Smith and band mate Mike Wilison went on to start the electronica based project Caviar with pretty solid success with lots of TV and film placement. But its the music that was written before they lost their record deal with Polygram that is the focus of a new Figdish release, the first in over 25 years, called Feels Like The Very First Two Times (Forge Again). These apocryphal songs complete the journey of this band and round out a top flight collection of powerful chicago indierock of the 90's scene that left a lasting impact on rock today, despite the hijinx and sabotage. 

The service industry has always been in actor Vasily Deris' blood, seeing as how his family owned a group of restaurants in Crown Point IN just south of Chicago. He had been working 12 hours a day in multiple restaurants each for more than a decade but his true calling is on the stage; any and all stages. Since deciding to refocus his existence into the lights he's taken his powerful singing and acting talents to many hallowed Chicago stages in performaces of Bat Out Of Hell: the Meatloaf Musical, Groundhog Day, Kinky Boots, and is currently finishing a 2 month run at Writers Theater in Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812. But his biggest break may have been landing an agent which pretty quickly turned around into impactful screentime on FX's The Bear, Shining Girls Apple TV+, Showtimes Shameless  and now a holiday feature film with Ben Stiller coming later this year. The SAG-AFTRA strike stuck a dagger in not just his work but the entire biz and Vasily still has a toe in the service industry. But you may want to put your order in quick because soon he'll be too busy. 

Going back to school to study World Religions just seemed like the right thing to do for Chris Simpson, the hugely talented solo artist operating under Mountain Time and formerly of the bands Mineral and later The Gloria Record. Minerals influence and impact from the late 90's cannot be overstated from their albums the Power of Failing and then EndSerenading, before getting signed to Interscope Records and then promptly disbanding. Dream Homes (Spartan Records) is the new record from Mountain Time and it sprawls and inspires awe with walls of sound including horn and string sections and loose arrangements that Chris danced with for over a decade while also raising four kids with his wife in Austin. oh and now going back to school. Dream Homes of course reflects his love of giants like Big Star, Neil Young, the Band, George Harrison, Leonard Cohen. But mostly if reflects Chris at his best. 

Gerald Dowd is the rare working musician who is actually making his living directly from his drumming gigs with an extremely wide range of musicians, from Eddie Vedder to Mavis Staples to Robbie Fulks to Neko Case to Justin Roberts, not to mention fantastic players that you may not have heard or be aware of. In addition, he's a songwriter of the first order playing a brand of country music that tips its cap just slightly without ever aping a certain artist or style. On his most recent solo release Fathers Day, his songs are straight from his soul and reflect exactly who he's become as a father and husband making his way in life, with narratives sometimes hilarious but also achingly poignent and heartfelt. After graduating from music school in Boston in the late 90's studying jazz and classical percussion, he found his way to Chicago and spent 20 years traveling the US and the world playing every small venue with various outfits, at which point he'd embedded himself within the Chicago scene and became the go-to hire for so many. Gerald is also a crazy man by staging fundraising events called the Day Of The Dowd in which he plays drums for 13 hours straight with 12 different bands to raise money for local food banks, pantries and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Great rap with the real deal. 

After 13 years of teaching percussion as an adjunct faculty member at a nearby college in upstate New York, Blake Fleming was unceremoniously let go, common with many colleges and shrinking enrollment that is plaguing the academic world. But the loss of this relatively low-paying gig was a blessing of sorts for Blake, a ground breaking drummer who entered the collective conscious with his avant punk band of the 90's Dazzling Killmen, then Laddio Bolocko, followed directly by a stint as a founding member and drummer in The Mars Volta. He used his new-found freedom to channel his creative energies into finishing and releasing a new album of percussion-only music, one that forges an EP from 2020 called Drum Killah with new material that has become his newest release called The Beat Fantastic. It's an eclectic and powerful testament to the tones created by only percussion instruments, revealing much more nuance and melody and actual note from each drum in pieces that feature no stringed instruments or keys of any sort. Blake is also an author of note after he released his first book in 2017 called The Book Of Rhythm (Skin and Stick Publishing) an exhaustive archive of rhythms containing every possible rhythmic combination derived from a 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9-beat grouping as well as every combination derived from a 12-beat grouping. With The Beat Fantastic he's offering rock-solid proof of the power of percussive music. 

When the highly respected label The Numero Group approached Brandon Butler, the voice and heart of KC heart throbs Boy's Life, about doing a retrospective of his influential band, his initial thought might've been there's not enough material to reissue, considering they only released 2 full lenths in their short tenure. What he hadn't considered was they were purchasing their entire catalog of 7" recordings and split collabs with bands like Christie Front Drive and Vitreous Humor, turning their rerelease into a 4 LP celebration of this foundational band from Kansas City MO. His career is one of a troubador and seeker always pushing and growing. His evolution over the years of his different bands from The Farewell Bend, to Canyon and on to Six Bells and through a prolific solo career that has seen him blossom from indie rocker to thoughtful and knowledgable musician with command over not only his lyrical narrative but also his voice and the machinations of theory, allowing him to make the music he hears in his head. He's a dedicated father, husband, a talented luthier and a hardass worker with a growing remodeling business in his adopted town of Louisville KY. With the reissues and a few Boy's Life shows in the near future, Brandon's at the top of his game indeed. 

In September of 2020, deep into a pandemic that seemingly had no end in sight, Life and Times bassist Eric Abert made a big decision to move from the place he'd called home for most of a decade, Chicago, and to move back to Collinsville IL outside of St Louis. It wasn't for nothing; in fact it was for a lot of reasons. He and his new bride wanted stability, a house, a solid job, and a child in a time when there was very little stability and no one was certain what the future would hold. He landed a great job at his brothers' digital printing business Pic The Gift, they soon found an amazing house there that would have cost $750k in Chi, and at the same time realised they were pregnant and welcomed a beautiful baby boy 3 years ago. Erics previous band Ring, Cicada (54 40 Or Fight!) had disbanded or gone dormant since his departure to join Life and Times in KC, but now they were all back in the St Louis area. But grown men have grown up life things to do and rocking ain't always at the top of the to-do list. The pandemic, the recent release and rebirth of Shiner also put off the opportunities to get back with Life and Times, so Eric has been missing a big part of his life up to that point: rocking. Well things are looking up in that dept with a recent Ring, Cicada reunion show and now BROASIS, (our Oasis cover band btw) is back in the swing. Could it be that L&T will live again in the near future? Eric has been living his best life and now it seems to only be getting better. 

Guitarist Coley Dennis is the heartbeat of his band Maserati since their inception in very early 00's and continues to be that even when they have to play live and tour without him. It would appear almost like a franchise to the uninitiated until you realize how connected this band is and has been over the years, slowly growing their Athens/ATL fanbase internationally and in the states. Now the shows are much bigger, more fests, more attention, but Coley, as a chef and restaurant owner of The Local with his wife in LuSaunne Switzerland and also a faither of two young children, has to pick and choose his time away. Nevertheless he's steered this ship over the years as the now celebrate the anniversary edition of Pyramid Of The Sun (Temporary Residence LTD) record, originally released in 2010 after the tragic death of their outlandishly talented and beloved drummer Jerry Fuchs (!!!, LCD Soundsystem) after he fell down an empty elevator shaft. In grief, the band waited a year or more before releasing POTS and deciding to move forward as a band with Mike Albanese on the kit ever since. Coley has guided the band through the tumult while maturing as a father, husband and business owner but one who is clearly married to his band of brothers. 

In 2021, in full pandemic tilt, Timothy Showalter aka Strand Of Oaks, released a brilliant  record in the vein of much of his stratospheric catalog called In Heaven (Dead Oceans) but decided not to tour on it, because that's what you didn't do during those heavy days; tour. Instead, he shut it all down. Stopped strumming and humming and stopped checking his emails and all other things that create anxiety for an artist who's been busting his ass for most of 20 years and who's making quite a dent in the music world with his intoxicating mix of Neil Youngian based songs and stories. There's always been an astral leaning, psychedelic connection to Strand of Oaks music, but for that moment it needed to cease, and all Tim Showalter wanted to do was paint. Not to mention, he was asked to join the cast of Mayans MC for 2 seasons, working with Edward James Olmos, something he'd never considered a possibility. The painting and acting paused, and the music started again. But this time he wasn't drawn to his guitar and the usual Youngian template. Instead he headed to his synthesizers and his long time engineer/producer/collaborator Kevin Ratterman (Elliot, Twin Limb) and rebirthed his muse in a different form, albeit one that continues to radiate what Tim does instinctively, move the listener. His new album Miracle Focus, is a fresh start and reflects his DIY ethic completely. It's still 100% Strand Of Oaks, long time fans will be relieved to know, but uses instruments that inspired him for this round of songs after the time off. Songs that give back what he's been living, Transendental Meditation, Yoga, Ram Dass and the feeling of joy that each moment creates, passes and recreates again infinitely. 

As the frontman, face and heartbeat of his band My Epic, singer/guitarist Aaron Stone started his rock band long before he ever imagined having and wife and now 4 year old child and would never have believed his band would still be making music. in fact they're making music on a killer label, Tooth and Nail Records, with their newest LP Loriella due on June 27th. 2024.  But even as he's grown older and now with a family, his bands' trajectory continues to rise as he's split his time between his music and his job--bivocational he calls it. As a kid raised in the church in North Carolina, indeed as a PK (preachers kid), his faith was big for him, and ultimately he majored in philosophy and got his masters in Theology. Throughout it all however, his rock band has been has greatest and most powerful voice for his ideaology without it ever being too heavy-handed for his crowd that often has "mixed or absolutely no belief" in a higher power. His music has been the conduit and has spoken the loudest for this thoughtful and articulate rocker with a larger calling. 

U of I in Champaign / Urbana in the 90's was typical of many satelite college towns to big cities with a happening urban center, dive bars and house parties for the indie scene to procreate within. Drummer Steve Lamos' band American Football was one of the bands within that scene that made a record for Polyvinyl Records, played a few shows then broke up -- except the lore and legend of that special debut album grew like crazy for the next 15 years. Reunion tours in 2014 and reissues all sold like wildfire. An appearance on NPR Tiny Desk Concerts puts the bands success into stark relief. Throughout it all Steve's drumming has added a jazz-influenced mathy component to the jangle and chime of their guitar lines, also punctuating many songs with his trumpet lines throughout their catalog. But even more impressive is his career as Professor of English and Writing at UC Boulder for the past 20 years. He's written extensively on something he calls Resonant Literacy as a way of listeners of music describing what they're hearing in esoteric and abstract ways. As American Football embarks this summer on tours of the US and Europe in celebration of the 25th anniversary of LP 1, Steve's living his best artistic life with more to come! 

Somewhere in the late 00's, drummer Chris Enriquez felt the familiar and invetible societal pull of many artists to finally "get a real job" after over a decade with his bands On The Might Of Princes, Long Island hardcore/emo heros, and Gracer after Princes disbanded. He left it behind and began working as a brand rep for PBR at a time when that brand was making a major push to become indie-rocks beer of choice, which largely came to pass. But much was missing from his life at this time and he held that tide back with alcohol and cocaine until it became untenable at a certain point. It was near the time he joined with the band Spotlights in 2017 that he came out of his self-imposed "retirement" and reentered the rock world with a force. But he took what he learned from his time as a brand rep with PBR and has put it to great use as a Brand Partnership Director with Brooklyn Vegan, Alternative Press, The Hard Times and Revolver Magazines, respectively. As he restarted this life his rock life also got back in to top gear he's now drumming with not only Spotlights, but also Julie Christmas and Orange 9MM, not to mention his pandemic solo project called Light Tower. In the last couple of years there's been much excitement around On The Might Of Princes, and they had great success with a re-release of their final album, in addition to a sold out live performance on Long Island earlier this month. 

There was a point maybe 10 years ago give or take, in which bandleader, frontman, guitarist, singer songwriter, podcaster and outsized personality Conan Neutron had a reckoning or awakening of sorts in regards to his bands and the dynamic within, which had taken a not-good turn. The Conan Neutron of today reflects on those regrets and missed opportunities and how he turned that into his successful podcast Conan Neutrons Protonic Reversal and his band since that fateful about face, Conan Neutron and His Secret Friends with Dale Crover (Melvins) on the kit and Tony Ashe (Trophy Wives/Coliseum) on the bass. This band and larger touring collective that he curates is the result of his embrace of who he is now vs back then. Their new album Adult Prom (Learning Curve) is a split LP with their friends in the band Lung and provide more proof that he's making the best music of his life. His bands Replicator and Victory & Associates, Mount Vicious and Household Gods set the stage for who his today, 380 episodes deep on Protonic Reversal and 7 albums deep making music with his best friends and musical heros, but this time sans drama. 

Deep into the pandemic, drummer AC Paterra and his musical partner in Zombi, bassist-keyboardist Steve Moore also went deep; deep into the sounds and songs that created who they have become today as a pillar of Relapse Records, a label often associated with noisy artists. However the songs that moved AC and Steve over these covid days were the yachti-rock based sounds of Gerry Rafferty, Paul Davis, Steely Dan and Barry Gibb. So faithful were these renditions that many assumed they were singing over the original tracks. This attention to detail doesn't escape their own original music they make as Zombi, a band releasing it's 7th album, Direct Inject, again on Relapse in late March '22. Sure, their band reflects the sounds of the 90's Pittsburgh heros such as Trans AM and a dash of Don Caballero, (to wit Phil Manley of TA guests on Direct Inject) but it would be short-sighted to assume this band is a cookie cutout of those giants. AC goes out of his way to avoid math in his deep grooves. In fact, Zombi continues to expand their sound and even include a touch of the yacht into their songs with Steve Moore's sax. AC is also busy as keyboardist for Grails and tours with them as well. He is living his best life as a full time musician who also happens to be making the best music of his life. 

Putting a band together for a younger Tristan Shone 20 years ago was not as easy as he thought it might be, so he used his knowledge of mechanical engineering and sense of tenacious autonomy to create his own instruments that would allow him to make live music on his own; Music without the use of traditional instruments like guitars and drums and backingtracks a single musician might use to fill out the sound. Nope. Tristan and his fellow engineers created a few different unique tactile tools that he could oscillate in a live setting for different sounds, explosions and deep tones. It became Author and Punisher and is now 7 records into a 20 year career with his most recent records being released on noise-centric Relapse Records and touring with the likes of Tool. To wit: Justin Chancellor and Danny Carey both play on A&P's most recent release, Krüller. Tristans dayjob as a mechanical engineer with The National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at UCSD dovetails perfectly with A&P as both concentrations are using his knowledge of machines for use in more delicate forms with scientists and musicians. Indeed, he and his fellow engineers are now creating unique instruments (dronemachines.com) for different artists like ARCA for use in her experimental performances. He's a dedicated San Diegan now and also devotes time with Border Angels who make "water drops" in dangerous desert regions for migrants seeking asylum in the states. 

Singer/songwriter/frontman Tim Kasher has been such a prolic maker of music over the past 25+ years with his bands Cursive and The Good Life and his solo records as his vehicles and conduits of creativity, so busy in fact that he has released a new album almost every year since 2000. Tim traveled from Los Angles to Chicago on Wednesday January 31st 2024 to spill about all of the "hows, why's and what in the world are we doing here" questions in front of great and responsive crowd at historic Fitzgeralds Nightclub in forever sunny Berwyn, just south of Chicago. We talk at good length about growing up in Omaha, The Saddle Creek Records era, which bunk is best on the tour bus (he likes the top), Taco Bell or Del Taco, which is his favorite record he's ever made, God, sportsball, some of his influences and what goes through his mind in the middle of the night. It was a fantastic evening all around for audience and performer and interviewer. One for the ages indeed. 

Multi-instrumentalist/producer/mixer Jordan Zadorozny created his one man band Blinker the Star in the mid 90's and made a huge splash with his 2nd album August Everywhere with Ken Andrews (Failure) behind the mixer. 28 years and 12 full length albums later JZ has released Animal Math (self-released), a highly enjoyable, forward-leaning and ambitious record that has hints of Jeff Lynne, Rush and a new wave type vibe that is unexpected and yet fits perfectly. Jordan is a producer and mixer with his own studio in rural Canada called Skylark Studios and gives him a literal playground to make his music and follow his muse while also double-fisting as a producer and mixer for hundreds of other artists. Our reluctant hero and host, Allen Epley, was invited by JZ to add vocals and lyrics to a song on this album entitled Throwing Dice that turned out amazing and it was a giant honor all the way around. This is Jordans' 2nd visit to the Third Gear Scratch studios, on December 16th, 2019 for our 28th episode. 

Artist and musician Jay Ryan remembers the moment that he began to create the animal-based characters that inhabit his hand-printed concert and event posters that have become ubiquitous in the rock world; he was just out of college at U of I in Champaign and was bogging down and unable to finish a painting because of undiagnosed ADHD, so he began to draw his living room automan, over and over from different angles. At a certain point he just added a pair of wide-set eyes that instantly imbued the automan with life for him. Since then, in his shop called The Bird Machine in Skokie IL, using his fatigue of seeing the usual rock posters using skulls and evil imagery, Jay has created a world in his posters involving squirrels, toasters, teddy bears, bicycles, rhinocerous in a kaleidascope of colors, all with his trademark wide-set eyes that is at once mystically sweet and ethereal. His band from Champaign called Dianogah became a huge outlet for him in other mediums and they went on to release 5 full-length albums on Southern Records with John McEntire (Tortoise) and Steve Albini as producer before calling it quits in 2009. They continue to play occasionally today and give this inspiring creator another avenue to spread his unique vision of the world. 

Episode 170 of Third Gear Scratch, in which our hero, Alien Epilepsy waxes and wanes about this year of our Lord, Two Thousand and Twenty Three. It's been a year of triumphs and struggles which has seen AE release his first and only solo record 'Everything' (Spartan) and tour on it, create a new record with his band Shiner, their 6th, tour with his friend Ian Prince and their band Birdhands with amazing bands Russian Circles, Spotlights, Jawbox and Pelican. But it was in the mother of all coup attempts that saw AE join Sunny Day Real Estate onstage in the role of guitarist in his friend Greg Suran's absence for 10 shows this summer and fall of '23. Growing older as an artist presents its own challenges and those showed up this year too. However, it is the continued support from the Third Gear Scratch faithful that give so much back and help to steady the ship for this long-time artist and maker of things. Huzzah!!

Being a body-builder and MMA fighter, Eugene S Robinson was a bit of an anomoly as the charismatic front man for the band he founded OXBOW, and before that in Whipping Boy, a more traditional punk rock outfit in the early 80's. It's in his new book, A Walk Across Dirty Waters and Straight Into Murderer's Row: A Memoir (Feral House) that we learn how he navigated these sometimes murky waters with braun and confrontation, a style he had had time to perfect as a black man in the world of punk rock. He's a direct and brash writer with a penchant for vivid story-telling of his often turbulent life. He's been a contributing writer and/or editor-at-large for GQ, Vice, Hustler and many more magazines and continues to spill his musings on his different platforms; his vlog Show Stomper with Eugene S Robinson allows him a place to air politics and MMA issues, and his blog Look What You Made Me Do, is an often personal, moving and funny account of his life and times. The new OXBOW record Love's Holiday (Ipecac) features the song Lovely Murk which was recently nominated for a Grammy, a first for this human who continues to expand his brand in brilliant ways. 

In 1993, Rob Zabrecky was certain he'd seen his future and that future was as a rockstar and frontman for local LA rockers Possum Dixon, his band that had just been signed to Interscope Records for a 3 record deal. But life is complicated. Indeed they had, by all accounts, a pretty great career as an "alternative" band with big tours and big producers like Rik Ocasek of The Cars. But like many other rock stars he fell prey to drugs and all the other issues that can derail a career. So he pivoted, as one does, to auctioneering, a fascinating career path over several years that eventually allowed him the time and resources to begin practicing a secret love; comedy, magic and sleight of hand. He's a handsome man, funny with a charismatic onscreen presence, having acted in commercials, TV and several feature length films in the post rockstar years. That charisma directly aided his new career path into a one-man show made of mentalism, magic and comedy that he has honed over the past 15 years. He now travels the world and has made quite a name for himself in this new career as Zabrecky and is deeply immersed in that distinctive niche, mingling and sharing the stage with some of the biggest acts in comedy and magic. 

This is a pre-pandemic revisit to a previous episode from Aug 9, 2019 in which touring and session guitarist Greg Suran visited the TGS studios to talk about his globe-trotting experiences playing in his own Chicago-based band Cupcakes and BlueManGroup before joining The B-52's in which he still enjoys frequent gigs. He later joined Sunny Day Real Estate for their last two studio albums and subesequent tours, and has worked since that time steadily as a session player with the likes of Joe Walsh and Don Felder of the Eagles. He later was asked to join the house band on the set of the American Idol TV show, and most recently has enjoyed a long touring stint with the legendary Lionel Richie. His revisit to the TGS studio here is relevant because since he's been busy with Lionel, Greg was kind enough to ask your host AE to fill in for him in SDRE so it's a great recap with a man who's made music his life and his experiences have forged a human with a rich DNA tapestry. 

The 18 year old version of a now grown Tony Higbee would surely be pinching himself for who he shares stages with these days. As a highschool rocker from tiny Monmouth IL, he was a bass player and had evolved into a serviceable chording guitarist in college. It wasn't until he began writing songs in Atlanta with his band Simple Sick Device in the early 2000's that he began to play guitar with more authority mainly because writing songs on guitar was so much more fluid, and that translated into becoming a real guitar powerhouse. He moved to Nashville and started his own band Caprice which begat East Side Gamblers, but it was his ability as a great singer that sealed the deal and he's ended up as an in-demand touring and session guitarist for Tom Keifer, lead singer of the 15x platinum hair-farmers Cinderella. Tom's solo albums have been a huge success and led to their collaborating for more than 10 years now and traveling the globe. That work also helped connect him with Brother Cane whom he also tours with as lead guitarist. He's a cancer survivor and an animal rescuer along with his girlfriend and is most certainly living his best life. 

When this episode was recorded, the writers and actors strikes were both still going strong with no end in sight, so resident keyboardist for the Jimmy Kimmell Show, Jeff Babko, was able to find time in his normally very busy schedule to rap with me. In fact, the Kimmell show is just a piece of his crowded schedule, which includes being the touring pianist on stage with Steve Martin and Martin Short, in addition to composing for movie scores like the new Weird Al biopic, Toy Story 4, Encanto, but also recording with James Taylor, Jason Mraz, Shelby Lynne, Simon Philips, Sheryl Crow-- not counting the folks he's played with on Kimmell. He's a funny man, driven to make music with whomever and in whatever forum is available, but usually includes incredible musicians like Vinnie Colaiuta, Jeff Coffin, Matt Chamberlain, Mark Isham and many more. He's a podcast host for the Caffeinated Keyboardist, owns his own studio Tudor Tones and is generally just busy because what in the hell else is there in this life but to make music. He's got a new record called The Libretto Show with bassist David Piltch and is generally just ready to rip at all times. 

When heavier-than-anything Louisville band Coliseum began to sense their time together was coming to a close around 2015, band leader and seed-writer Ryan Patterson started to get some glimpses of his next move but was struggling to find his voice within that sylistic change. It was a move from guitar-bass-drums based pummeling into synth-synth-bass-drummachine based songs that were much more mid 80's Dark Wave than Coliseum's post hardcore earth-rattling. Turns out he found his voice in what would become Fotocrime with the help of producer J Robbins (who also produced several Coliseum records) and since 2017 has released a growing catalog of these darkly powerful analog synth-based records, their latest ACCELERATED (Artofffact). Ryan decided to take the Fotocrime recording process into his own hands for Accelerated in his own home studio which has grown to where he can record other projects as needed. It's a huge growth for this seeker, and one consistent with how he has chosen to exist with the help of his own business, SHIRTKILLER.COM which is quite successful in it's own right and gives Ryan an endless supply of subjects to create for and with. 

Jason Sipe and Victor Riley of Chicago's own Salvation make a particularly powerful and vicious form of music that many might assume descends from grunge music of the 90's. On the surface perhaps, but this mighty trio, with the help of Mr Mike Lust, a prodigious producer (Urge Overkill, William Elliot Whitmore, everybody in Chicago) and two-time TGS guest has created a moving testament to laying it all out and flinging the resulting blood on the wall. MOCK (Reptillian), their 4th record and first with Reptillian conjures images of bands like Cows, The Jesus Lizard, Unsane, and yeah some very early Nirvana, but is also more immediate and complicated than those RIYLs. Victor and Jason represent what we all represent in the arts which is busting their respective humps to make music and take it on tour, by working jobs that allow them to do just that. In fact, they're both literally at their jobs on the day of this recording and it gives a nice peak into the life of a working musician. 

Writer / actor Ryan Raddatz has spent the last 20 years in LA carving out a career in TV and film, first briefly as an actor, before realizing that writing was his true calling. He spent years writing on show for CBS like the recent reboot of The Odd Couple and The Neighborhood with Cedric The Entertainer and dozens more that may or may not ever get made, and has written over 5 seasons of episodes for PBS WordGirl. He's had a great career that has allowed him to raise a family in LA and live at a reasonable middle-class existence. But now the current writers strike is reaching into the months with no end in sight and issues of pay increases and the looming advent of AI and it's ability to pop out scripts with a few prompts can end careers for not only writers but many others in the food chain of the biz. Actors are fighting for Image Privacy as studios will use AI to lift their faces in crowd scenes. Fantastic insight from this great writer. 

Guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Niko Wenner has been seeing life through a very different lens since the pre and post pandemic years brought him loss and big gains; his father died and went through a job change and saw some very tough times. But it also brought him a newborn child, his daughter, now almost 3 and has changed how he sees the world and makes music with his long time cohort OXBOW, who have a new record Love's Holiday (Ipecac Recordings). It's a record that is surprisingly straightforward, especially for a band that has been in the middle of the ven diagram between noise, punk, art rock and music concrete. Working with producer Joe Chicarelli (Strokes, Oingo Boingo, Michael Bublé, U2) over the pandemic brought out the rock band in them as he gently suggested that maybe going a little more traditional might in fact be the thing that makes this record stand out for this celebrated experimenting band of over 30 years. Niko is a highly educated and trained classical and jazz player, but can also throw it down with the best of the rockers. It's another brick in the fantastic wall of music that OXBOW has been making for their entire career. 

In it's infancy, drummer Jason Gagovski's band Sweet Cobra, was always a 4 piece unit; a giant, crushing, throbbing and roaring missive of urgent importance. The move from 4 to 3 piece however was not their decision, as Matt Arluck had cancer that ultimately took his life, leaving them at a loss for a moment until deciding to move forward as a trio. Sweet Cobra's sound has historically been a highly evolved echo of the giants that came before them. And they are still are that, albeit one that has grown it's sound exponentially on their new record Threes (Hawthorne St), where melody and nuance and reverb state their case boldly and successfully. Jason is the engine behind the band and is not only a talented drummer but a gifted graphic designer who freelanced for a long time before landing his current gig at the Field Museum here in Chicago. In addition to maintaining Sweet Cobra, Suicide Note before it, touring with Cloakroom, creating a side project with Sarah Olmsted called Rows Arc, he's also a proud father of young man that has highlighted and augmented his entire reality and that clearly is evident on this new record of his. 

Laurent Schroeder-Lebec's love of heavy, ground-breaking, earth-shaking music is well established by his band Pelican and their diverse discography over the past 20 years. But somewhere around 2012 LSL began to feel the tug of a different calling; starting a family and supporting that family to the best of his ability, and that included becoming beverage director for Big Star here in Chicago. Certainly Pelican had been experiencing success and was making money as a professional band, one that tours 8 months of the year and can sustain itself when not on the road. But raising a family is a different beast so he made the tough decision to leave Pelican. Shredder Dallas Thomas filled Laurents role heroically for several records until just recently when the band began to reissue their first 3 records on Thrill Jockey with new remasters and in the case of the last reissue, The FIre In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw, they were able to add a new remix in addition to remaster by original engineer Greg Norman, with spectacular results. These reissues sparkle and roar in all the right places and bring these records to the sonic level of later releases. With Laurent firmly back in the band, Pelican have been enjoying their reunification and showing the world they still got that thing that put them on the map in first place: the fire in their throats! 

When Vinyl Emergency podcaster Jim Hanke was in school at UW Milwaukee with a double major in Communications and Journalism, he probably never dreamed that one of his future endeavors would be an answer to a question on the famous game show Jeopary. But that's what happened with Biscuits and Jam, a podcast he was producing for Southern Living Magazine. He spent a couple of crucial years there and helped to transform that show into a Jeopardy-answer-sized-pod, but only after producing his own beloved pod called Vinyl Emergency. This podcast has been a labor of love over the past 5 years and has grown from interviewing nobody's like Allen Epley to rapping with somebody's like Adam Duritz from Counting Crows, Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Chris Shifflet of Foo Fighters about what vinyl has meant to them. Jim has moved from Southen Living on to the Audacy company where he now produces many shows for them in addition to VE still going strong, and raising a beautiful family in the Chicago burbs.

Travis Talbert has made the music biz his living, or maybe it's the music that made him do it. He's a touring and session pedal steel player and guitarist for other touring artists like Arlo McKinley but has also busied himself with his band Frontier Folk Nebraska and now more recently with his solo music as Mavis Guitar. He's been releasing music under that moniker for some time now but his most recent offering, Tony Delks' 53 Point Game (self-released) is an expansive and eclectic mix but still stands as cohesive and focused. It's music that uses traditional instruments phrasings but has a kind of meditative ambience to it that transcends the trappings of folk or rock. He's doing all this while teaching guitar/piano/pedal steel, touring at length, working at his fave record store Shake It Records and raising a beautiful family.

Chris Neville is a busy man;  As the core member and founder of Tributasaurus, a collection of session killers from Chicago that regularly honor a certain artist or band with a highly-perfected tribute concert featuring almost granular details of that artists recordings (i.e. 6 people to play a proper Rush concert), as a composer for a huge gaming platform called Everi Holdings, as a longtime venue owner whose club fell victim to the pandemic, and as a weekly performer in various ensembles including but not limited to his newest band of assassins, The Meadowlark Lemons.  Chris has remained humble and driven to make his life revolve around his strongest skill set as band-leader, keyboardist, singer and all-around show man. He's also found time for the most important parts of life, being a dad and husband while following his dreams. 

Tim Rutili is not only from the influential and highly regarded art folk skronk rock band Califone, he in fact is that band. Certainly not to say he's not the only person who makes Califone Califone, indeed that band is more like a collective, often made of 15 humans or more for any given record, and it continues to involve many of the same talented humans he's been making music with for the past 30 years including his time as the main maker in 90's SubPop heros Red Red Meat. So it goes with Califone's new offering, Villagers (Jealous Butcher) due May 19 2023, and follows the theme of these friends exploring new sonic territory, widening their scope of influences and finding lyrical themes of seemingly mundane moments which slowly unfold into profound epiphanies. It's a giant record; a huge step forward but also on par with his best offerings. Tim Rutili is a person with a complusion to create, whether it's composing for film scores, directing and scoring his own films, working on his own paintings, or riding the Califone machine into a new record for the 15th time in 23 years, he will happily continue to satisfy this need as long as he is able. 

Gabe Larson was actually closer to his maternal grandfather than his paternal grandfather, Waldemar or Wally, the one he named his band after and most likely the man from whom he inherited a bit of his sadness and ennui. And it's this general bout with depression that plays a central role on his new album called Ruthless (Self-Released), an expansve and intimately beautiful record that has taken most of 5 years to create. In that time, Gabe and his brother Nick carefully rebuilt a 130 year old barn on his Eau Claire WI property, outfitted it with studio gear, and then began to track this big recording, which accurately reflects the open-sky of his surroundings. The pandemic allowed him time to finish his work and to make a baby, Ruth, who was influential in the songs as a matter of course. In his young life after graduating college with a music degree, Gabe has worked tirelessly in decidedly non-music professions like school bus driver, roofer, and now owns his own business with his brother refinishing hardwood floors all over the Chippewa Valley. But most importantly, he's made a career-defining record that makes him so very happy. 

The idea to rerelease a remixed version of The Badge, a notoriously anti-cop song, from Jerry A Lang's highly influential punkrock band Poison Idea's 3rd album Feel The Darkness (Vinyl Solutions/American Leather) was not exactly his. In this chat it becomes clear how a current Portland police officer approached him and the idea was hatched. In the mid 80's Jerry A (as he was known) had made his mind up to live his life as he saw fit--make punkrock, tour punkrock, drink, drug, heavy drug, rinse and repeat--until the mid 00's at which point members began to die off for various reasons, the biggest loss being guitarist Tom "Pig Champion" Roberts by heart attack. Jerry has lived a focused and mostly clean existence since then and has channeled his new energy into a recent Covid era solo record From The Fire Into The Water (American Leather). In addtion, he wrote his biography Black Heart Fades Blue (Rare Bird Books) which ended up initally as 3 separate volumes, but now with the repress in sight, Rare Bird is putting all the volumes into one very large, Bible-sized tome for all to enjoy. 

Both Sarah and Mario Quintero of the post-everything band Spotlights have been guests on TGS previously, but never at the same time. It is clear that regardless of the music that they make together, beautifully crushing songs that push sonic boundaries with every release, these two are best friends and would be together even without this music. They're deeply in love and have a connection to being the best fucking band they can be and are proving it with every new release. Their newest, Alchemy For The Dead (IPECAC) is another perfect cog on Spotlights gear but sees them grow their brand in very big ways; the vocals and lyrical content on this record has pushed them beyond their post-post-post roots into territory relatively uncharted for them. They've always had singing on their records but it's a big jump for this band. They're embarking on a 9 week tour and explain exactly how they do it and how they make sure their children (aka their dogs) are taken care of while they're out proving it. 

Producer Santi Garcia was just 12 years old when he approached the radio station in his town with an idea: his own radio show playing new music he loved. His exuberance and love of music led him to recording bands who came to him wanting to be recorded. He borrowed the only 4 track recorder in the small town north of Barcelona called St Feliu De Guixols and began plying the trade which would make his name and put bread on the table for his family to this day. Santi has expanded his successful studio, Ultramarinos Costa Brava, by including his brother Victor, who is now a sought-after mastering engineer at his own studio, Ultramarinos Barcelona. Both are always busy, recording and producing bands from the region like Standstill, Nueva Vulcano, and Delorean but has made fantastic recordings with Jeremy Enigk in his small studio that overlooks the Balearic Sea. Santi continues to live a music lovers dream in his small hometown; it's a beautfiul success story. 

DC punk icon Pete Stahl and his guitarist brother Franz were heavily influenced by their father who was in the biz in the 60's as a band manager. Pete has ridden his simple and profound love of music through a long life of traveling the globe not only as a musician with his band. the godfathers of the DC Dischord scene, Scream (featuring former member Dave Grohl), but also with Wool, Goatsnake and many others, but also as a tour manager for Rival Sons and Coheed and Cambria. It's a life that is as thrilling as it is exhausting but this ageless creator continues to make outstanding music for his masses and it continues with a new record from Scream called DC Special (Dischord), their first in over 25 years  and includes contibutions from Bad Brains members and of course, Dave Grohl. 

As Executive Director of the Midwest Music Foundation, Rhonda Lyne sees it as her duty to see through the vision of her friend and musician Abigail Henderson, a talented singer/songwriter with her band The Gaslights in the mid 00's. Abigail was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 and a benefit called Apocalypse Meow gave her and her husband Chris Mecke a platform on which to create the MMF. Abigail passed in 2013 and Rhonda as taken it upon herself to see the vision through and has not only done that but has created a team and board of professionals to create a network to help local KC area musicians with health care costs, advanced artists careers through performance opportunites and expanding the social safety network for midwest musicians. She does this in addition to a full-time job and pursues this agenda like a musician would find the time to write and create; she finds the time to help the creators. 

When Stephan Hawkes was but a teenager, he and his band at the time called Tibanna, made their first recording with Paul Malinowski of Shiner in the midwest, far away from his hometown of Portland OR. That band ran its course as bands do, but Stephan caught the bug for recording and fell in love with every part of the process. Not only is he a gifted guitarist and drummer as exhibited in his longtime band called Shelter Red, which released their 5th full-length album in 2021, Beast of the Field, he turned out to be a prodigious recording engineer, working with many many bands and establishing his name as the go-to guy in PDX. In the past few years he's migrated not only into mastering music for many artists (think Air Supply!) but has also migrated into the City of the Angels, bringing him that much closer to artists who need his talents and enthusiasm. 

Singer/actor Taylor Dupuis has had the same dream as many of us dreamers of living a busy and successful artistic life and she's definitely been living that nocturnal event out to a T. Her band Roanoke which she started with her then boyfriend Joe Beesley has just released their new EP called Wolf Motel (Kill Rock Stars) and it is a shining example of the professionalism and attention to detail typical of her career thus far. The indie film Lost Heart is one of the standouts of her acting career as she continues to fine tune her chops while also recalibrating exactly what it means to have success in a chosen career. It's a long road and she's the one driving the bus for as long as needed. 

After more than 15 years of drumming for Quicksand, Seaweed, Burn and before--and after that, Beyond, with a fair amount of storm and stress in the Quicksand years in particular, Alan Cage wanted to prove to himself that he could master something else in his life, completely unrelated to anything musical, and he did. For 10 years he had a successful career as a labor organizer and besides a couple of one-off gigs for other bands, had almost zero connection to his former life. Quicksand had put aside the blood and guts to release their first studio record in almsot 20 years with Interiors (Epitaph) in 2017. It's success convinced them to make another in 2021 Distant Populations (Epitaph) and are still aglow from their long tour last year with Clutch and Helmet. This second act includes the welcome addition of a family and a career giving drum lessons in NY when he's not killing with Quicksand. 

Big A is back from an end of year hiatus and takes Episode 145 of TGS to reflect on the year that was 2022 and some positive thoughts on the year ahead, 2023. Last year was tough for many people for many different reasons but we're all hoping for a fresh start moving forward, beginning with the release of AE's first and only solo record called 'Everything' due out on Spartan Records on Jan 6th 2023 with a big release show at the Empty Bottle in Chicago the same day. There are always many irons in the fire for our hero and this year is no different. With the release of 'Everything' new possibilities are opened, while the joy and beauty of creating continues to pay big dividends in the emotional, intellectual and sometimes financial well-being for those who are creators and take the leap of faith to live this unique hustle. 

Growing up in upstate New York, young Kendall Wind took piano lessons before migrating to bass guitar and leaning into The Rock Academy founded by School of Rock's Paul Greene. Her piano knowledge would later inform her bass and guitar playing in the band she put together at Rock Academy with singer Sam Quartin called The Bobby Lees, now on it's 3rd LP Bellevue out now on Mike Patton's Ipecac Records. She's working with Jon Spencer regularly now who also produced the bands 2nd record before working with Vance Powell on Bellevue. It's been a whiplash ride for Kendall and The Bobby Lees, touring heavily since their inception. Unsurprisingly they were a bit relieved when the pandemic offered them time to make new music and refuel the machine. 

Austin TX has evolved for better and worse over the past 50 years and Texas blues guitar rock legend Van Wilks has been witness to and in the middle of all of it. In fact the city named November 6th Honorary Van Wilks Day in 1997. Van gets much love from guitar wizards like Eric Johnson and Billy Gibbons, and songwriting masters like Christopher Cross, each of whom were featured on Van's last record 21st Century Blues. Billy and Van have been old school road dogs for many moons and he's written several songs for ZZ Top over the years. But he's also been a long time teacher of his brand of guitar magic for young and old. Great rap with a legend.

Right after Jarboe had migrated from the Deep South to New York in the early 80's, she saw Michael Gira and Swans perform and knew that was her destiny. Swans impact today is felt in bands like FACS, Godflesh, Neurosis, Isis and Napalm Death with Jarboe and Michael as the figure heads of Swans. Jarboe's career is 33 albums deep between solo work/collabs/Swans, and now is reissuing one of her most enduring and celebrated solo albums Sacrificial Cake (The Circle Group) from 1985 and is also heading out on tour to Europe for her first shows since the pandemic shutdown. She's an electrifying and eclectic singer, a practiced and studied performer and a passionate human with a long story that is still going strong.

Many musicians, waiting for their new record to be pressed, have mused to themselves about starting a vinyl manufacturing business, but John Lombardo actually put a real plan together with 3 other friends to create Smashed Plastic here in Chicago. John pieced together this coalition from his life and times within the music business as a record store guy, a tour manager, and with his own bands in the Cleveland music scene and it has seen unbelievable success despite the slow downs in manufacturing since the pandemic because of supply chain issues among others. Smashed Plastic set out to create a new standard of ordering online transparency between artist and manufacturer instead of the long-standing model of little communication and no sense of progress through the process. Illuminating rap with a hard working change-maker. 

When Ben Jorgenson began to write a new record for his band Armor For Sleep, their first new music in over 10 years, his mind began to conjure a dystopian world, a post apocalyptic Earth with a museum that held pieces of the old world to remind us all of the past. It also happened that he was working through and dealing with a difficult divorce, and those troubles  inevitably found their way into the narrative as he dovetailed them into a piece of music he called The Rain Museum. It's a dark and beautiful peice of work that is easily their most accomplished. Now AFS is gearing up for another tour and their fans have grown with them and refuse to let go as they pack in to every venue and sing every dark and beautiful word.

The pandemic takes its toll on everyone in different ways and Sarah Shook is not unique in that it yielded a new record, but this music was a new sort of fruit from a fresh vine. Sarah's delivery and metrics have up to now hewed to an 'outlaw country' quilt but these songs stood out from their work with Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. They leaned towards pop, yes, but a spartan and economized version of smart indie rock with melodies that also dovetail their country roots. The result is a new band Mightmare and the accompanying debut album Cruel Liars (Kill Rock Stars) due October 14th '22 with tours to follow. It's been a dusty road for this ex-bartender, atheist, vegan, pansexual and now sober singer/songwriter, but the future is very bright indeed.